The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All: A Novel

by Josh Ritter

A lyrical, sweeping novel about a young boy's coming-of-age during the last days of the lumberjacks.

In the tiny timber town of Cordelia, Idaho, everyone has heard tales of the Applegates. Local legend says their family line boasts some of the greatest lumberjacks to ever roam the American West, and from the moment young Weldon stepped foot in the deep Cordelia woods as a child, he dreamed of joining the rowdy ranks of his ancestors in their epic axe-swinging adventures. But at the beginning of the twentieth century, times are changing fast, and the jacks are dying out.

On his deathbed nearly a century later, Weldon Applegate recounts his life in all its glory, filled with tall tales writ large with murder, mayhem, avalanches and bootlegging. It’s the story of dark pine forests brewing with ancient magic, and Weldon’s struggle as a boy to keep his father’s inherited timber claim, the Lost Lot, from the ravenous clutches of Linden Laughlin.

Braided with haunting saloon tunes and just the right dose of magic, The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All is a novel bursting with heart, humor and an utterly transporting adventure that is sure to sweep you away into the beauty of the tall snowy mountain timber.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Coming Of Age, Historical, Book Club, Literary Fiction

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2021

About the author

Josh Ritter is a songwriter from Moscow, Idaho. His albums include The Animal Years and So Runs the World Away. Bright’s Passage was his first novel. He lives in New York.

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All is like a folk tale, meant to be told around a campfire. It’s a story of when the west was still wild and civilization was far from the lumber forests. A place where holes are dug in the fall to house the bodies that will die over the winter. In fact, it’s a story that begs to be listened to.
Weldon Applegate is 99 years old, recounting his life. His father had promised his wife he would walk away from his life as a lumberjack. And he fulfilled that promise for the first 13 years of Weldon’s life, even after his wife’s death. And then Linden Laughlin walks into Tom’s general store and convinces him to harvest The Lost Lot, which Tom had inherited from his father.
Ritter sets a great story - witches that read fortunes, jacks so tall they block out the sun, illegal hooch, avalanches, fire, murder, attempted murder. The glorious goddamn strength of this book is the writing, words cascading like the St. Ann River. Ritter is a songwriter and this book is like an epic ballad. The characters are rich, easy to picture in all their uniqueness.
Ritter narrates his own story and does a fabulous job. Another reason to listen, rather than read, this book is the song at the end.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Memory has a way of growing things, of improving them. The hardships get harder, the good times get better and the whole damn arc of a life takes on a mystic glow that only memory can give it." "...when you get as old as me...people want to hear your whole life story...life back then...when you live to be ninety-nine years you pretty much got the living part down...".

Weldon Applegate was born into a family of lumberjacks of meteoric reputation. Tom Applegate, Weldon's daddy, had promised Weldon's mama that he would no longer brave the dangers of a jack's life. Tom had "conquered his true nature and found safe harbor...the steady sureties of settled life." Now a widower, Tom ran a general store with his thirteen year old son, Weldon in the tiny timber town of Cordelia, Idaho. Tom had inherited "the most lumberjackingest place on the face of the Earth...The Lost Lot...a murderous, glorious ground with the biggest white pines there ever were...". Sohvia the Witch's prognostications advised against it, however, Tom threw caution to the wind, partnered up with Linden Laughlin [the best jack that had ever lived] and hired a team of jacks who were promised double pay to take down trees in the mountainous area, an area subject to avalanches and brutal winter storms. Upon Tom Applegate's death, thirteen year old Weldon acquired the Lost Lot and his granddaddy's ax.

"The woods are no place for a wee bairn" according to Linden Laughlin. "Maybe Linden wasn't a man at all but...a kind of forest spirit...he was seven feet tall and had three rows of teeth...as a woods boss he could strike fear and respect...lead...jacks up any mountain with the knowledge that the timber would get taken out..." Linden called Weldon "cub". With granddaddy's ax in hand, Weldon made the ten mile trek to the Lost Lot. "There was a time before I'd ever seen the ornery side of myself. All that changed-that long ago December night...I would be transformed into a lumberjack."

"...even at my age of ninety nine years...knowledge of [Joe Mouffreau's] essential wretchedness has come to shape my belief that our mortal enemies can keep us alive...[Joe] lying, foolish, condescending, big talking...convinced his daddy to start a 'fancy new way' just to log the holy hell out of the St. Anne."

The town of Cordy was now empty, silent, with no jacks stopping by...no laughing...no cussing. "The jacks are dying out. Their time has come. The World has been coming for a long, long time." With humor, magic and a dose of profanity, singer-songwriter Josh Ritter weaves a tale of lumberjacking in the American West at the beginning of the twentieth century. Weldon's pluck and
stick-to-itiveness to uphold his family tradition created a fun-filled adventurous read. I absolutely loved it!

Thank you HARLEQUIN/Hanover Square Press and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook…read by the author, Josh Ritter
….6 hours and 52 minutes

A great glorious lumberjack father/son titillation-audio-rapture….
…rowdy adventures…
historical family-story during the 1980’s —through the eyes of Applegate himself at age 99.
“99 years is 99 years…life comes to ‘you’ …special delivery” ….
When Weldon was 13, his father Tom inherited the Lost Lot. Tom who had been working in his general store ends up taking off with the jacks-crew.
After Tom was killed by a falling timber, young Weldon takes over as owner.
The crazy chaos begins…
We’re taken on a journey - meet ‘the witch’ (with her wise words and sounds), a cast of colorful characters and folklore type stories’ are told.
At some point you’d swear music was working it’s way into your ears….
Ha….
you wouldn’t be wrong!
Singer songwriter, Josh Ritter, included a few musical surprises —
With magic, enchantment, humor, gritty adventures, poetic-profanity sentences, and heart….this book is an old fashion-legend-tale.

I liked it - appreciated it - it held my attention-but a little too testosterone-driven for me in parts.

🎶 “Some Somewhere” 🎶….
by Josh Ritter is included with the audiobook. (sweet!)

3.7 rating up.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

For all that this book moves, and I mean fast, it also draws back the curtains on moments and places in time where the world just stands still. The settings are sometimes built up stone by stone

til you feel you are right there and can see your breath in the cold.

Other times it’s like you’re walking into the movie theatre after the show’s begun and you’re trying to catch up - things can get that far out in front of you!

But, this is a story that circles back time and again - a looping spirograph of a story with plenty of kinetic energy built up. Some of the upswings will remain on your mind and some of the downstrokes will linger in the way loss always does.

It’s a helluva a read - there are tale tales, odes to times’ past and a heaping of bigscreen action shots that reminded me of Tim McCanlies’ Secondhand Lions and the Coen Brothers’ Big Fish.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐ rounded up.

Josh Ritter's writing is two parts salt of the earth affability, and one part American Lumberjack mythology. His style reminds me most of Pete Beatty (author of Cuyahoga), particularly in that loose, off the cuff storytelling tempo.

Of course, it wouldn't be a story if it were all whimsical. The plot turns on a dime from entertaining fluidity to a searingly sharp and frighteningly dangerous point. The author takes great care in setting the scene and events so that we feel the vulnerabiliity and horror of it, especially from the viewpoint of a young teenager who has not known evil, or faced it so brutally. This experience, and the fight that boy learns to have, pays off for him much later in life as well.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't connect with the story or characters at all. I had big hopes for this one. Maybe I will read it again sometime, but at this point it was just okay.

[Shellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audio: If you want a book that compels you to quote many magnificent lines to your family and friends, read this book. If you want a book that makes you forget about time and space, read this book. I wish I could read this book for the first time, but I know I'll be reading this book again. I wish I could give it more than 5 stars. DO NOT PASS THIS BOOK UP!! Thank you so much to the publisher Hanover Square Press for an ARC of this book and to Libro.FM for an ALC of this book. If you do read the audiobook, stay around and listen to the author sing THE SONG that you can never get out of your head.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I say this with every review: this book won’t be for everyone. But if you like folklore and tall tales about lumberjacks, this book is for you! Josh Ritter has a poet’s soul.

[Silvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Una maledizione è qualcosa di simile a un uccello. È pensata per volare. Una volta pronunciata si libra in aria, compie un tragitto, si posa."

Francesca Pellas, la traduttrice di questo romanzo, nella sua nota ci racconta che quando il New York Times ha chiesto a Josh Ritter di scegliere una manciata di parole per invogliare le persone a leggere il libro, lui ne ha usate dieci: "Moonshine, streghe, valanghe, demoni, omicidi, pianisti, roulotte, vecchie ferite, fulmini". E ci spiega che moonshine significa "chiaro di luna", ma anche "alcol prodotto clandestinamente".

C'erano tutti gli elementi per un romanzo che mi attanagliasse e non mi mollasse più fino alla fine. Per non parlare della copertina meravigliosa, che da sola mi ha convinta a leggerlo.
Eppure non posso negare di aver faticato a tratti.

La storia è narrata da Weldon, che assieme al Terreno Perduto ne è l'assoluto protagonista, e si distribuisce tra due momenti temporali: il principale, quando Weldon ha 13 anni e decide la direzione che dovrà prendere la sua vita; il secondo, quando di anni ne ha 99 e sta tirando le fila, burbero, astioso, arrogante.
Il fatto che Weldon mi abbia ricordato una persona della vita reale forse non ha aiutato a rendermelo simpatico.

È sostanzialmente una fiaba: c'è un eroe che si trova ad affrontare difficoltà, c'è magia, ci sono pericoli e nemici giurati, i cattivi sono cattivissimi e bidimensionali.

Romanzo acerbo di un autore che di mestiere fa tutt'altro (è cantautore e musicista), ha molti difetti. Però ho apprezzato l'atmosfera cupa e questa natura selvaggia che diventa personaggio. Ritter è da tenere d'occhio, potrebbe riservare sorprese.

Sarebbe qualcosa in più di 3 stelle, ma arrotondo per difetto.

[Desiree · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one surprised me because I LOVED IT. It’s a lumberjack story. Not my thing at all. But the tall tales mixed in with a little magic was perfection. And the last line was everything! Weldon’s stories were wonderful and it was like listening to a grandfather telling stories of his youth.

[Suanne Laqueur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. This was a real American tall tale. Lightning in a bottle. Loved it.

[Denver Public Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovers of tall tales, this is the book for you! Weldon Applegate, now a crotchety 99 years old, recounts his life and work and escapades in and around the tiny town of Cordelia, Idaho. The Applegate family had a notoriety in town for being the best lumberjacks around, but now the work is being done differently. Back in Weldon's day, jacking was full of danger and excitement and big money, but when it came to logging the Lost Lot, his inheritance from his father, things got personal. You see, Joe Mouffreau was put on this earth just to torture Weldon, who being small in stature, was just the right person for Joe to pick on. And Joe wants the Lost Lot, where trees grow bigger than anywhere else and the slopes are so steep they grow sideways just to get a grip. Author Josh Ritter, known for his songwriting skills, laces this novel with lyricism. When Weldon muses about Joe and his own demise, he says "Still, there comes a time with mortal enemies when you have to have it out with them. It may not be a time or place of your own choosing, but in order to outlive somebody, one of you has to die." For fans of Leif Enger's title Virgil Wander, or Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove.

[Ineffable7980x]

DNF.

I listened to about an hour of the audiobook and could not get engaged. It has a tall tale tone that just wasn't working for me.

[Khris Sellin · Rating 4 out of 5]

99-year-old Weldon Applegate is lying in a hospital bed reliving his life, starting from when he was a young boy growing up in the forests of Cordelia, Idaho, son of a lumberjack. He had to grow up fast because of tragic circumstances, but he's one tough, cantankerous cookie! Don't think he's in that hospital bed because of some sickness due to his age -- he's there because he had to fight off his sworn enemy (one of them, anyway), 84-year-old Joe Mouffreau. Guess who won?

[Starr ❇✌❇ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC from Netgalley
TW: home invasion, implied rape, self mutilation, threats to family members, violence with an axe, gun violence
2.8

The child of a lumberjack promised not to return to his trade, and a want to be lumberjack himself, Weldon Applegate lives in a precarious world. Now on his death bed, he tells the story of the plot no one could cut down, revenge, and growing into a man.

I will start this by saying I'm 100% not the target demographic for this book. I was reeled in by the Southern vibe, the promise of murder and bootlegging and epic lumberjacks- but this story was just not exciting enough for me. I think maybe if I was was a fan of peacocking Westerns and mustache twirling villains, or if I was the type who could picture myself in Weldon's shoes, I would have enjoyed this. But I am none of those things.

I did still find it interesting. There's enough going on that you're going to find something in it to be interested in- I just didn't find it compelling. For whatever reason I just couldn't pay attention. Maybe it was in the pacing- and the jumping back and forth in time certainly didn't help- but regardless I found it hard to keep reading without just letting my eyes slide off the page. But in the moments I was paying attention, there were some more exciting ideas and interesting threats, just not enough for me to fully care.

Honestly, I probably would have enjoyed the whole thing more as a movie. There is an atmospheric quality in the way this whole thing is set up, and I might have found something more to hook me if I wasn't being dragged around by Weldon and was able to fully appreciate what was being shown to me with less bias.

Though I have to contradict myself a bit, by saying my favorite thing about this book was actually the way it was written. I didn't enjoy reading the story itself per se, but I did enjoy reading it. I like the way Ritter writes, the style is easy to read and lyrical in a rusty kind of way.

With the quality of the main story, and my disinterest in Weldon's life as an older man, there really just wasn't anything for me personally to connect to in this book. I can see other's enjoying it, but I couldn't get interested.

[Laurie · Rating 1 out of 5]

For as much as I love Josh Ritter’s music, I disliked this book. I wonder if I listened to it as an audiobook narrated by Josh himself if I might have liked it more.

One thing I like about his music is that many of his songs tell a story. This book did seem to have many lyrical qualities but I just never connected with the story.

Weldon Applegate is a 99 year old man who tells us the story of his life, mostly about his time around age 13 during Prohibition when he lived among the lumberjacks. His dad owned the Lost Lot. It was a very steep piece of property that no one seemed to be able to log. Some tried, many died, including Weldon’s dad. After he died, Weldon contemplated selling the land but he didn’t want Linden Laughlin, who was a lumberjack of mythical qualities but who he felt was responsible for his dad’s death, to have it. So Weldon chose to stay on and log the land with the lumberjacks.

Throughout Weldon’s life he also has a rivalry with Joe Mouffreau, a neighbor. These stories get woven in with the lumberjack stories.

It took me forever to finish the book even though it was quite short. The last third moved along and was more interesting to me than the rest. I think some people will like the book, it has almost a 4 star average, but I just didn’t.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

(I read an ARC of this novel provided free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks, Netgalley!)

Oh my gosh this was such a fun read. It's about how the modern world finally caught up to the world of tall tales and legends.

Weldon Applegate is 99 and telling the story of his life. His father, Tom, was a lumberjack who promised his wife that he'd stay safe and never jack again. After his wife dies, he and Weldon move to Cordelia, Idaho, a town full of lumberjacks and near the Lost Lot, a cursed tract of land owned by Tom. Tom works in the town general store but finds himself making a deal with a larger-than-life lumberjack-of-legend, Linden Laughlin, who turns out to be a devil in disguise. Weldon tells us the whole story in tall-tale style from those times through when technology and industry take over.

It's a super exciting and well-written. Definitely a fun read. This the first book by Josh Ritter I've read, but it won't be my last.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a charming, nostalgic coming of age story about a father and son and their family connection to one of the last pieces of land not taken over by a large logging magnate. Told from the perspective of 99 year old Weldon Applegate reminiscing about his life and adventures growing up in the tiny timber town of Cordelia Idaho. Equally funny and heartwarming and narrated by the author, I really enjoyed this romping yarn of a story. The audiobook also includes a bonus song written and performed by the author! I highly recommend listening to this moving family story for full effect. For fans of Damnation spring or Greenwood. Much thanks to Libro.fm for my ALC.

[Amber Kozawick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Damnit. I wanted to love this book. I did.
As a big lover of nature and tall tales, I wanted to love it so much. But it felt a lot to me like chewing on a tough piece of meat. I felt like I had to work at it, and that’s just not the experience I want in a book.

I will say this is the best titled book of the year, so kudos to the author for that. Otherwise, it felt a bit like a bit run-on sentence and while it had big (often violent) moments, it didn’t feel like it had an arc or any flow to the story.

A disappointed 2 stars from me.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out ok, but gradually I lost interest.

[Mattie-Bretton Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A coming of age story told by former lumberjack, Weldon Appplegate, of his life in early 20th century northwest Idaho.

The ornery 99 year old, Weldon tells of his fight to save the famed Lost Lot that he inherited from his late father at 13 yrs of age. It's a rugged steep chunk of land worth millions, or nothing at all, and Weldon fights to make something of it because he knows no other life than the big mysterious trees. Weldon grows up fast, describing the harshness of the land and winters up in the wilds of northern Idaho, of camaraderie with fellow jacks, and how a certain fabled jack almost got the better of him.

A gritty narrated yarn about the olden days of the wild west America at the turn of the 20th century, and how the modern world finally caught up to the age of tall tales and legends.
Sprinkled with magic and mystery, snark and grit, with lyrical prose that sends you back to another place and time.

Love this author's writing, and will be reading his other book, Bright's Passage.
Josh Ritter is also a musician, playing folky tunes that bring his stories to another level. Purely enjoyable!

[Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a huge fan of Josh Ritter’s music and the storytelling style of his lyricism and that really shown through in this book

[Jake Dingman · Rating 4 out of 5]

What was fun about this book was that while it is fiction, I can picture each place. The St. Anne as the St. Joe; maybe Cordy is Calder. The stories of the camp, the lot, the rowdiness of the town, and all the events in the life of Weldon tell what it was like, logging the area. This was a fun read.

[Jan Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweepingly told tall-tale. The most charming, foul-mouthed, heartfilled yarn I've read in ages. The lumberjack novel you need in your life right now!

[Libriletti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Voto: 8

Quando il New York Times ha chiesto a Josh Ritter di scegliere 10 parole per descrivere il suo libro, egli ha utilizzato: Moonshine (sia nel significato di “chiaro di luna”, sia in quello di “alcol prodotto clandestinamente”), streghe, valanghe, demoni, omicidi, pianisti, roulotte, vecchie ferite, fulmini”. Sono parole giuste, che rendono assolutamente l’idea dell’atmosfera e delle sensazioni che si provano leggendo questa storia. Se dovessi aggiungere io qualche altra parola, direi: grinta, resistenza, legna, neve e irriverenza.

Con questo libro sono un po’ uscita dalla mia confort zone, perché “Una grande, gloriosa sfortuna” non ha una trama simile a quelle che di solito leggo, ma mi piace quando riesco ad apprezzare anche storie diverse dal solito, che mi arricchiscono ancora di più. Nonostante il libro mi abbia intrigato da subito, con il suo stile vivido e la sua struttura particolare, ci ho messo qualche pagina per entrare pienamente nella storia e farmi coinvolgere, ma poi è successo e anche più di quanto pensassi.

[Aquila]

Reminiscent of the film Big Fish. A tall tale with a little more horror and a little less whimsy and lumberjacks instead of circus folk.

[Chrissa Kuntz · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, mixed-up, surprising book. I loved the beginning (1-120), tolerated the middle (120-220), and liked the quirky, eye-opening end.

[Leah M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded up to 3.5 stars.

Thank you to libro.fm for providing me with an ALC of this audiobook. I am offering my honest opinion voluntarily.

CONTENT WARNING: profanity, death of a parent, violence, implied rape (off-page), self-mutilation, gun violence

This book is narrated by the author, who I feel did a great job with it. I loved that he incorporated his own music into the story, especially the catchy rendition of Some Somewhere. I’ll definitely be singing this song to myself for the next few days.

While I liked Weldon’s character from the start, I struggled to connect with him and the story in the beginning. Things moved a little slowly. The chapters would bounce between Weldon’s early teen years and him as a 99 year-old, but I often found it difficult to differentiate when they switched abruptly.

However, at around halfway through the story, I became a lot more invested in what was going on. Things started happening more quickly and I was curious to see how everything played out. There was one character who was just a horrible human being, and I think a big part of me kept listening just to see them get what was coming to them.

Once the action started, it kept me very interested. I didn’t know what was going to happen next, but I definitely wanted to keep listening. The writing itself was lyrical, and the author had a great voice that was well-suited for narrating. I enjoyed the author’s style, especially as I got further into the story. This story brought the last days of the lumberjacks to vivid life, painting a vivid picture of what this difficult, spare, physically demanding, and dangerous lifestyle was like. This is a story I won’t soon forget.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finish reading "The Glorious Goddamn of it All" by Josh Ritter. Set in the times of lumberjacks and adventure in the old settler times, this book captures a time in history where people survived on instinct and reputation, and had to fight for everything they were given. There were no rules in place, so people had to use their wits to make the best life possible.
In this book, the main character wants to be a lumberjack against the wishes of his father and sets off to claim what is his and profit from an wild plot of land where claiming the trees could make him a fortune but could also lead to his death.
The story follows his life and although the language is rough, it is properly used because it sets a tone for the reality of the time in which it is set.
The author, Josh Ritter, does an exccellent job of using descriptive words that portray the emotion and harsh reality of the time, and the reader is transported back to that era in part because of the imagery created through the auhor's words.
This book is heartwarming because the reader wants the boy to succeed, and make his life better, and the journey, although filled with sadness, is a journey worth taking with this book.
Although not my normal choice of genre, I decided to take a chance with this book and was not disappointed. I loved the characters and felt engaged in what was happening in the story. Thank you to Net Galley for giving me an advance copy of this book to enjoy.

[Matteo Mazzoli · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5: Cosa fanno i bei romanzi, ben scritti, documentati, solidi e coinvolgenti? Ti fanno stare lì, attaccato alle pagine, e non te ne scastri se non controvoglia e con la certezza di volertici ributtare in mezzo il prima possibile. Una grande, gloriosa sfortuna fa questo e molto altro, soprattutto grazie all'intuizione di Ritter di far raccontare la vicenda a Weldon in prima persona. Una voce forte, distinguibile, tutt'altro che scontata e non sempre amabile, ma che ti sembra di conoscere da sempre, che ti fa un po' incazzare qualche volta ma che ha davvero una grande storia da svelarti. È un romanzo sui ricordi e sulla perdita, perché in 99 anni di cose Weldon se ne è lasciate alle spalle, ma è anche un libro sulla forza di volontà, sulla dedizione e su quella chimera del sogno americano lontano anni luce da ciò che lui è in grado di realizzare, ma che accarezza a modo suo, tra roboanti sconfitte e piccole vittorie, in una terra dura e inospitale come la vita che gli è capitata. Quel Terreno Perduto diventa metafora di un desiderio bruciante, della voglia di accettare una sfida impossibile, per suo padre, per sé stesso, per dimostrare di essere vivo. E Weldon lo fa, a 99 anni, ed è ancora qui, sul letto di ospedale con un'anca sfasciata e un nemico che ha cercato di farlo fuori. Ma lui, come detto, è ancora qui